Stacey Cartwright wants to focus on further global expansion, particularly in
the Middle East and Asia

Stacey Cartwright will become chief executive of Harvey Nichols in February

By Telegraph staff

9:34PM GMT 08 Jan 2014

Steering Harvey Nichols, the one-time jewel-in-the-crown of British department store retailing, back to the forefront of fashion may not be all plain sailing for new CEO Stacey Cartwright.

Back in the Nineties heyday of Ab Fab, the “Harvey Nicks” flagship store on Knightsbridge became known as the home of British style, synonymous with glamour, wealth, frivolous excess and all-round fabulousness. The windows were the most creative in their class, the fifth floor restaurant was buzzing with the “it” crowd and the shop floors packed with the most exciting labels from far-flung corners of the globe.

But the retail landscape has changed unrecognisably over the past decade. Harvey Nichols’s London cousins, Selfridges and Liberty, have dramatically overhauled their retail spaces and broadened their product offerings to bring customers exciting designer collaborations, in-store exhibitions, pop-up boutiques, events and dining experiences, but Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge somehow got stuck in a time warp, like a Nineties version of Grace Brothers.

Admittedly, none of its competitors has come close to cracking the e-tail space – surely an open goal for Cartwright – but setting the “bricks and mortar” space back on track should be top of her “to do” list.

Despite the popularity of regional outposts, such as Liverpool’s Beauty Bazaar – the standalone beauty destination offering a wide selection of leading beauty brands alongside treatment rooms for Botox, fake tanning, manicures and eyebrow shaping – she has apparently ruled out the possibility of opening more UK stores. Instead, she wants to focus on further global expansion, particularly in the luxury market strongholds of the Middle East and Asia.

She has unbeatable experience when it comes to this strategy. The Asian market, always keen to tap into the perceived “London look”, has long dictated the peaks and troughs of Burberry’s balance sheet far more than its “home crowd”. Burberry’s expansion in these territories can account for the lion’s share of the vast increase in turnover Cartwright helped to oversee during her nine years as executive vice-president, from £676m to more than £2bn. Crucially, it’s an audience that loves a British brand with a rich history and, with Harvey Nichols celebrating its 183rd birthday this year, Cartwright has all the tools at her disposal to make lightning strike twice.

In the UK, the brand has survived with its reputation tentatively intact, thanks largely to its seven regional UK outposts. Catrwright’s challenge is to enhance it.

Premier League needs to beware pitfalls of greed

If the Premier League goes ahead with its plan to bring forward the next auction of live broadcasting rights to the end of this year, the stakes in the battle between BSkyB and BT will be raised even higher.

The risks for BSkyB are perhaps the most obvious. Though surprisingly only about half of its 10m households take Sky Sports, its brand is inextricably linked to the Premier League in the consumer mind.

If an early auction encouraged BT, still fresh from its success in the Champions League battle, to use its superior cash firepower to blow BSkyB out of the water again, the company would face a new and unfamiliar reality. Backroom chatter of BSkyB as an acquisition target for Vodafone or another suitor would burst into the open.

Though BT appears relaxed at the prospect of an early auction, it is not an ideal scenario. Winning exclusive Champions League rights was a public relations coup, but an expensive one. Having paid £897m for the three-year UEFA deal on top of £738m for its first Premier League deal, it would face stumping up another sizeable sum – quite probably in excess of £1bn – to the Premier League before its big adventure in pay-TV has showed a return for shareholders.

BT will also have to improve its customer service operation, a fact acknowledged by senior management. It is currently not as slick as BSkyB’s and requires investment. Consumers who pay for premium television expect premium service.

There is little doubt the next rights auction will bring a fresh bonanza for the Premier League but it risks accusations of opportunism and, even if its shrewd negotiators manage to extract more cash from the TV bidders, as they surely will, they should resist the temptation to exploit the rivalry beyween BSkyB and BT too cynically. At some point even these heavyweights will reach the limits of their largesse.

And, if the cost of watching football rises in line with rights, the Premier League could alienate its most valuable asset, too. Fans.

Mark Carney knows Help to Buy can’t go on forever

After six months of rejuvenation in the UK’s property market that has seen values surge, homeowners were given an unexpected jolt on Wednesday when a leading survey showed that prices suddenly fell in December.

However, fears that a nascent property bubble had already burst before it had fully inflated were eased by Bank of England data that showed demand for mortgages increasing at the fastest pace seen for six years.

Despite the conflicting data, it is clear that property prices, along with unemployment, will be the two major concerns for Bank Governor Mark Carney this year.

Interest rates need to be kept at historic lows to continue supporting jobs growth and the wider economy but allowing them to remain at rock bottom could overheat the housing market.

At some point Carney will have to make a decision and be prepared to advise Chancellor George Osborne to rein in the controversial Help to Buy scheme, which some experts fear is doing more harm than good to the economy by creating an unsustainable market.

Writing on telegraph.co.uk, Rob Wood, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, argued that, with little inflationary threat at the moment, Carney could probably delay an interest rate rise until early 2015.

“In the meantime, he should deploy all the other tools at his disposal to calm the housing market,” he wrote. “Ideally, he should recommend the immediate cancellation of the Help to Buy scheme, which will ultimately just push up house prices, making them even less affordable.”

Expect that refrain to be heard with increasing frequency in the months ahead.